


scarves of red tied around their throats

by plinys



Series: ABC Fic Challenge [19]
Category: Fantastic Four (2015)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 04:25:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4773461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plinys/pseuds/plinys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s something special about winter time in New York City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	scarves of red tied around their throats

**Author's Note:**

> For my abc fic challenge, the word for this one is "Snow" for the letter "S"
> 
> Also I wrote holiday fic even though its September cause I'm trash oops.

There’s something special about winter time in New York City.

Rationally and scientifically Reed knows that it’s not that different than winter back in Oyster Bay. That the weather is just about the same in all of Long Island, but standing there on the steps of the Baxter Building as the snow falls down around him – Reed almost beings to believe all those movies saying that Christmas in the city is something magical were right. The tingling in his fingers, comes from more than just the near freezing temperatures, excitement pulses through his veins.

Though that might have less to do with the weather itself and more to do with the person stepping off of the bus across the street from him. Wearing a jacket that looks a bit too baggy for his frame (and familiar in a way that Reed _knows_ it once hung in his closet), and a scarf wrapped around his face so only the pink of his cheeks and those bright eyes shine out towards him.

Saying, “I missed you,” doesn’t seem like nearly enough, but he says the words anyways, before pulling Ben out of the falling snow and into the warmth of the Baxter Building.

Some people say distance makes the heart grow stronger. Reed’s just a bit certain they might be right. It’s almost funny how he only didn’t realize he was in love with his best friend, until he put distance between them that made forty minutes seem like forty light years apart.

Ben’s making some joking comment about train delays and brushing the snow out of his hair (just like he’s done a thousand times before) and all Reed can think about is leaning across the distance between them and kissing those cold pink lips.

He nearly does, leaning forward slightly and – “Reed?”

It’s Ben’s slightly concerned tone that snaps Reed back to himself at once, blinking as he looks down at Ben. Trying and failing to remember what exactly it was that his friend had been saying.

“Let me guess, endless hours in the lab, lack of sleep in general,” Ben says, reading off his ‘symptoms’ in an oh-so-knowing way. “I seem to remember getting a text at three in the morning, and I’m assuming you didn’t sleep before that?”

“I’m not tired,” Reed insists, because really he’s not, he’s more awake than he’s ever been in the past few weeks. Sure, he may not have actually slept for more than a few hours in the past few days, but Ben was here now. Nothing could make Reed feel more awake. Well, nothing other than, “Coffee. I had a cup of coffee before you showed up.”

“Coffee?”

“It was a very large cup,” Reed explains, “Very energizing.”

He knows that look the second he sees it show up on Ben’s face.

It’s the same look he got back in fifth grade when he asked about Reed’s scars (right before he _stole_ three fire extinguishers and set them up around Reed’s garage). It’s the same look he had when Reed got in a _minor_ car accident because he was too tired to focus on driving (Ben drove him to school every day after that until graduation). It’s well – a look that Reed is all too familiar with.

Ben Grimm can do concerned like nobody else in the world.

Reed already knows saying anything at this point is useless, he’s already lost the battle.

There’s no point in even fighting it.

The hidden meaning in Ben’s words, as he insists on stopping up to Reed’s room to see how he’s gotten settled in since the fateful day Ben dropped him off, so is obvious it brings a small smile to Reed’s face as he leads the way.

“I assume anything I say at this point-“ Reed starts, only for Ben to cut him off gently.

“Will be ignored because you look like you haven’t slept in a week,” he finishes just as Reed had expected him too.

Still Reed lets out a put upon sigh as he unlocks the door to his dorm room.

“Don’t worry, there will be more than enough time to see the city after,” Ben promises, as though he can read Reed’s mind. That or he just knows him well enough to know what he was thinking.

The thing was, Reed had made plans for the day, a careful itinerary for Ben’s weekend in New York City that he had spent at least a good hour on, but he was willing to let all of those plans go out the window, at the sight of Ben sprawled across the top of his dorm room bed.

Reed wants to tell him how he feels, that the sight before him makes Reed think things that are a bit _less_ than platonic, but before he gets the chance Ben speaks up.

“It’s smaller than your one back home,” Ben says, almost casually, “Think we’ll both fit?”

There’s no teasing there, no innuendo, just _Ben_.

It’s a bit of a relief to be honest.

“Only one way to find out,” Reed says, crossing over to the bed. When he lays down next to Ben on the bed that is just a bit too small, he has to remember this this is supposed to be just like old times even though Reed wishes it were so much more than that.

“I missed you too,” Ben says, their fingers brushing for a second, before Ben sits up properly, and removes Reed’s glasses from his face. “Now get some rest, and after I’ll watch your power point plan for the weekends to do list without complaining.”

Reed doesn’t try to fight it anymore, after all, he is a bit tired. Though he does stubbornly insist, “It’s an itinerary,” just to hear Ben’s laughter in reply.

That’s the last thing he hears before he falls asleep, and the image comforts him as he slips his eyes shut – the sound of Ben’s familiar laughter, and the snow falling just outside his dorm room window.

There will be time to tell him all the other stuff later.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @ plinys


End file.
